On Saturday Night My Faith in the Enforcer was Restored

When I talk to people who are not to knowledgeable about hockey, but knowledgeable about sports in general and the topic of hockey comes up it usually doesn't take long before they bring up the subject of fighting in the sport. Nearly always they cannot buy into the fact that this can and should exist in a sport. Usually of a football background (as I originally was) they can’t understand the argument for standing off and having a toe-to-toe bout. I always mention how the fight actually 'keeps the game clean' but it generally falls on deaf ears unless you actually have a game handy to show them with a few fights that perfectly explain the need for a good fight.

On Saturday night that game took place.

Coming into the game there had been a run of recent fisticuffs but in recent months and even over the last year I had heard hockey fans debate the need for an enforcer in this day and age under zero tolerance. 'The roll of the tough guy is a dying breed'. I had read articles like that for quite a while and I wasn't enjoying it. I love my hockey, love the skilled side of it but really appreciate what the 'big guy' on the team does for the team while the others get the glory on the scoreboard. I was starting to worry that I may end up buying into this idea that the enforcer wasn't needed and an extra scorer or playmaker on the ice would better serve the team.

On Saturday night my faith in the enforcer was restored thanks to Carlyle Lewis.

In the final quarter of the second third of the game the Phoenix's own tough guy Brett Cloutier - bodyguard to the aging but still productive player-coach Tony Hand - took a run at the Giants aging but still productive player-coach Ed Courtenay. It didn't sit well with the Giants' bodyguard/policeman/enforcer, call it what you will, Carlyle Lewis.

Carlyle had been taking flack from some sections of the crowd in the early part of the year for not playing tough enough and not duking it out enough. I felt it wasn't for lack of trying and in recent games he was starting to see his efforts rewarded with a number of scraps in the name of his team-mates. Only a few nights before Carlyle had fought Andre Payette after he had took a run at Ed.

On Saturday, Carlyle took the old eye for an eye approach and settled the score the best way he knew how. I suspected he would have fought Cloutier, but I certainly wasn't ready for the open ice hit he caught Tony Hand with as the latter skated dreamily across the centre red line with his head down. It's not often someone hits Tony Hand but this one shook him, his bench and for that matter the rest of the league. The message had been sent that Ed Courtenay would not be intimated without fear of retribution.

Following the hit the inevitable happened. Two old pals, Cloutier and Lewis, put a friendship aside and did for their team what they are paid to do and dropped the gloves. It was right then that I had my evidence pro the hockey enforcer and also pro the hockey fight. The referee realised it would put an end to the potential dirty hitting that could possibly ensue for the rest of the game. Following the fight (and another one between the two smallest players on the ice for that matter) there wasn't a single penalty minute taken the rest of the game. The game cleaned up and was played in an open end to end style as skilled hockey took its rightful place.

Saturday night put an end to the flack Carlyle had been taking. He showed why a man of his style is necessary in every line-up and how without him Ed and his other skilled scoring team-mates would be intimidated out of games each and every night.

Last night in Nottingham he was called into duty again for the 9th time this season, (tying Paxton Schulte's Giants-career high in fighting majors for one season believe it or not). When an already banged up Ed Courtenay was hit hard again - This time by Ryan Shmyr - Lewis dropped the gloves and pasted Shmyr and again the league will take note. Coming into a crucial stage of the season, playing some great hockey and with the playoffs looming, the Giants skilled players can go about their game knowing someone is watching their backs.

Carlyle plays the roll of the on ice police-man perfectly. He rarely goons it up, he rarely starts the fights for no reason, but dear help the man who crosses his team-mates and especially his employer - Ed Courtenay.

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